India's batting genius Virat Kohli has gone on a rampage in cricket history to emerge only behind Sachin Tendulkar and above all the other greats by knocking down one after another in his third and last ODI against Australia in Sydney on Saturday.
Kohli made the landmark with a fluent half-century, exceeding Kumar Sangakkara's aggregate of 14,234 runs. The 36-year-old was given the challenge of scoring fifty-four runs to break the record of Sangakkara, and he accomplished it in his own way, elegant and yet very powerful.
This stage turn has put Kohli in the second position of the record lists of all time with only one person ahead of him, i.e., Sachin Tendulkar, who had 18,426 runs in 463 ODIs. What factors make Kohli's feat even more phenomenal? - One being his phenomenal scoring of 14,235 runs in a mere 305 games at almost 58 for an average and at a strike rate of 93. It is worth noting that he is the only one out of the top ten ODI run-getters who has an average of over 50.
Most Career Runs in ODIs:
Sachin Tendulkar (India) – 18,426 runs in 452 innings
Virat Kohli (India) – 14,255* runs in 293 innings
Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka) – 14,234 runs in 380 innings
Ricky Ponting (Australia) – 13,704 runs in 365 innings
Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka) – 13,430 runs in 433 matches
Most Runs in Limited-Overs Internationals (ODIs + T20Is)
Virat Kohli – 18,437*
Sachin Tendulkar – 18,436
Kumar Sangakkara – 15,616
Rohit Sharma – 15,589*
Mahela Jayawardene – 14,143
Ricky Ponting – 14,105
With this feat, Kohli continues to redefine modern batting standards and inches ever closer to Tendulkar’s long-standing record as India’s greatest ODI run-machine.
